my pared down 1953 topps sampler

i've removed all the non-dodgers from my 1953 topps sampler set.  here is what i am left with.

that's 12 of the 21 dodgers in the set.  i just need some guys named robinson, reese, campanella, etc.

for those of you with eagle eyes, you've noticed that there are 12 dodgers instead of 11 that were included in the sampler set post earlier today.  that's because in between the time i scanned the cards and got around to posting, i picked up a charlie dressen card.

sorry, that's chuck dressen.  i also mentioned earlier today that my approach to the sampler sets was to not worry about position differentiation, just team, color combos, and subsets.  that meant that i didn't have a manager card in the 1952 set (dressen is a high number), and until i picked up this card, i didn't have one in the 1953 set either.

is there a doctor in the house?

why yes, i have two of them right here.  

back in 2002, i thought that it was awesome that mike marshall (the cy young award winner, not 'general soreness') was included in the upper deck vintage game used jersey insert set

i picked up one of those cards as quickly as i could.  as a bonus - there's a lurking davey lopes back there!  anyway, i thought that maybe there was an autographed version, too, but dr. mike marshall (he has a phd in kinesiology from michigan state) doesn't sign much.  when he does, his fee is a couple hundred bucks (or more).  needless to say, i don't have any signed stuff from marshall.

i do have a signed card from john rutherford, another former dodger who became a doctor.

that's rutherford's 1991 topps archives 1953 reprint card that he signed through the mail for me earlier this fall.  rutherford only pitched in the big leagues during the 1952 season, but at least he got to pitch in the world series (and against mickey mantle) before retiring from the game after a few more seasons in the minors.  he went on to become a doctor of osteopathy and is now retired and living in michigan.

thanks doc!

pinholes may apply

card show tomorrow.  vintage dodgers with or without pinholes might be in my future.

anybody need anything?

sunday morning target dodgers

did you know that johnny rutherford was a dodger?

he was.  although not the johnny rutherford you probably are thinking of - the one that won the indy 500 three times.  the dodgers' johnny rutherford pitched for them in 1952.  that was it - one and done.  he went 7-7 as a starter and reliever that year, and even appeared in the world series.  he gave up one run in his only inning of work in the fall classic, allowing a triple to mickey mantle who scored on a relay error by pee wee reese.  more impressive is that he hit .290 (9 for 31) in his career.

dave anderson had two stints in la with the dodgers

in between, he played for the giants of all teams.  kirk gibson's on deck decoy played 8 seasons for the dodgers and is now a coach for the rangers. 

lonny frey

like anderson, frey was a middle infielder.  unlike anderson, frey played for the dodgers in the early 1930's.  he broke in with brooklyn in 1933 and spent 4 seasons there before he was traded to the cubs.  the reds snatched him up and he had his best seasons in cincinnati and won a world series with them in 1940.  in 1947 he was a member of the yankees and faced his old team in the world series.  he went 0 for 1 with an rbi but got another ring.

merv shea

shea's lone season with the dodgers came in 1938.  he backed up babe phelps but hit just .183.  according to wikipedia, he played himself in a jimmy stewart movie.  i am almost curious enough to netflix it.